Why are you?
by The Further
Summary: Set after the events of Birthmark. Apologies if it's a little OOC or rushed.


The cool breeze swarming her senses felt like a relief compared to the blazing inferno of a city she had just been faced with, the heat of the flames that had consumed the illusionary demolished buildings threatening her own impending destruction. The young woman almost felt inclined to let gravity consume her as her body plummeted towards the city street below, the bright flashing neon lights of signs burning images into her retinas as she fell past. Then she felt it, her bare back collided with something solid though she could swear she had a couple more hundred feet to fall before her body caved in the roof of a car. But there was no resounding crash, no feeling of her spine snapping in half as she collided with two tons of solid metal, or even the undeniable pain as shards of glass drove themselves into her exposed flesh. There was only the feeling of cool concrete as her limbs came to rest on the roof of one of Jump City's many buildings that tended to loom over it's citizens in the streets. Then the touch of a gloved hand made itself known as it rested across her thigh, and for a split second Raven was consumed by a choking fear that her pursuer had decided not to let her limp body be felled by an inanimate hunk of arranged metal. With a groan she forced open her pale eyelids, revealing unusual amethyst irises, and lifted her head in order to look her savior in the face. Something in the back of her mind reminded her that her once short and specifically styled hair had now grown past the middle of her past in merely a few seconds, but that was not a matter that needed to be dealt with at this moment.

All that consumed her vision now was an utterly recognizable masked face smiling down at her despite her rather embarrassing state of undress. She seemed to be in a state of shock as she stared up at the Boy Wonder himself, looking for the words to explain her rather odd predicament and the looming questions he might want to ask her. And yet, instead of asking a single question he merely stated three words in a gentle, almost relieved, voice.

"Let's go home." Raven stared up at him a few moments more as she tried to grasp the situation, a look of shock set in stone of her face until she regained her senses and chiseled through her dumbfounded expression. She turned sideways and twisted herself out of Robin's rather uncomfortable lap, what with his leather tights and steel toed boots, and pressed her palms into the concrete roof of the building, her dark amethyst hair falling around her in waves. She was able to slip her knees under her form before she distinctly felt Robin wrap his gloved hands around her right bicep and left shoulder, successfully assisting her in her struggle to rise off the ground. His firm grip on the bruised piece of flesh where Slade had grabbed roughly had her gritting her teeth and she was thankful her dark hair hid her expression from view, giving her time to steel herself back into her monotone voice.

"Can you stand, Raven?" Robin questioned, his tone firm and yet very concerned. Raven inhaled and then exhaled, her chest rhythmically expanding and deflating as she bounced back from her traumatizing experience. It's not every day she finds herself stopping time, being chased half-way across the city by the Titan's worst maniacal enemy, and looking over a completely destroyed Jump City.

"Yes. I'm fine, Robin." The dark Titan's tone seemed to take a firm note in her monotone vocal cords, fighting off the unusual and yet familiar tightness in her chest from an unknown emotion. Her companion reluctantly released her from has grasp but his muscles seemed almost spring loaded as he prepared to catch her as if she could collapse at any moment. Raven peered through the thin strands of her long hair and seemed almost childishly determined to prove she could stand on her own, as if something so trivial mattered at this moment in time, by straightening her spine and taking another deep breath. She was prepared to speak once more and parted her lips, but whatever she was going to say was lost to the wind as the familiar ringtone of a Titan Communicator sprung in the space between them. Instinctively, her hand flew behind her, but her fingers only grasped the empty air behind her. Once she had realized there was no familiar brush of her dark blue cloak against her knuckles she finally remembered that it, most of her leotard, and her belt with her communicator attached to it were all either still atop of the other building where Slade ripped her clothes off or have fallen captive to the streets below.

Whichever option it was she didn't care to know. Raven's attention now turned over to Robin as he grabbed his own communicator and flipped it open where a man who had metal for one half of his face and a look of great distress on the human half of his face appeared on screen. And as the static cleared to reveal their friend Cyborg's identity, Robin held it a little bit farther away from his face as he felt the impending doom of the android's shouting.

Cyborg did not disappoint as he began spouting off questions that rivaled an intensity people who were ecstatic were known to have, though this robotic man was as far from ecstatic as anyone had ever seen him.

"Robin! Are you alright? Where are you? Where's Raven? I can't locate her signal anywhere, something must have happened to her! If she still has her communicator she isn't responding." Robin waved his free hand slowly in front of the tiny screen in a slow almost dismal fashion, the extra lines spread across his features expressing his stress. Cyborg seemed to note this and halted his stream of questions, even as Starfire and Beast Boy appeared at his side, peering past his rather large frame to get a look at the screen on his robotic arm with their own distress marked clear across their faces.

The Boy Wonder seemed to form a thin line across his lips before he replied, speaking before Raven even had a chance to reassure them herself that she was perfectly fine. "She's fine, she's here with me. We'll come pick you guys up, stay where you are." Robin stated firmly before quickly shutting his communicator, successfully cutting off transmission from the rest of the team. He looked up at his dark companion, and despite everything that had transpired, and the fact she was barely wearing anything, she seemed as stoic as ever and even gave a faint nod in his direction.

Despite his eyes being covered by a mask, his vision seemed to burn through the fine lining and bore a hole in her face as his distress practically radiated off of him, even without his apologetic words. She didn't need to be an empath to know how badly he felt about the entire situation and all that had transpired. Raven sighed, she hadn't wanted to drag any one of them into her own mess, but they were going to be in it. No matter how much she struggled, the apocalypse would rain on this city like hell's fire. Yet, despite the impending doom of the entire planet on her shoulders, she very calmly held a single hand out towards the concrete below their feet and strained each one of her pale fingers apart. Not a moment later, a flat circular platform made of a matter nobody could quite discern gathered below the Titans' feet. Raven then gently lifted her hand, same obsidian matter consuming it, before the two companions were lifted to the chilling night air, the trademark obsidian of Raven's powers indiscernible to those below against the ink black night of the sky.

* * *

The pair of Titans had not spoken a single vowel to each other as they rode the obsidian disk to the demolished building they had been nearly trapped in not forty minutes ago. They spotted the other three of their friends down next to the entry way of the building and Raven gently lowered herself and Robin to the ground below, careful not to transport them through the gravel covered concrete. She could already read their horrified and utterly shocked expressions as they stared in bewilderment at their dark friend, some even ranging all the way to rage and revenge at the state of their comrade. Their were very obvious bruises on her pale flesh, located on both of her biceps, not to mention her leotard was completely shredded apart, the only pieces of the fabric that were left covering her breasts and crotch. The team stood in silence for many moments as Raven turned away almost shamefully while Robin recollected what he knew of what transpired, all of them with varying degrees of shock, rage, and regret before Robin swung back around to face her, his dark eyebrows lifted high on his forehead as he looked over at her with a sorrowful expression.

"I'm...still not sure why Slade was after me." Raven whispered, her arms coming to cross over her chest as her eyes looked at anything but her team.

"Don't worry, Raven. We can figure all of this out later, right now we need to get you home. You've been through a lot today." Robin replied, walking with the rest of the group as they rallied around her.

"Yes Dear Friend, you have endured much! I am very sorrowful of the events that took place." Starfire came up to her shoulder, her long and slender fingers coming to wrap around Raven's left shoulder, and the single torn strip of her leotard.

"Sorry your birthday turned out like this, Rae. We'll find Slade, don't you worry." Cyborg almost seemed reserved as he said these words, despite the seething rage that leaked forth when he spoke of their worst enemy.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, Rave...but there's one thing I wanna know..." Beast Boy finally spoke up in what seemed like forever when he was the one who usually couldn't keep his mouth shut. Raven turned her attention to the green boy, gradually shrinking into herself as all of her team stared at her, a thin eyebrow raising in his direction.

" _Why are you almost naked!?_ " Beast Boy threw his arms out in exasperation while his voice raised an octave or two, as if this single question had been bugging him since her and Robin landed. The entire team stiffened as the green boy questioned her, the girl in question facing him completely now as her face burst forth with a hundred shades of red as her pupils contracted back into her skull. The shortest team member stared right back at her, tapping his foot as if he actually expected an answer.

Raven slowly regained her sanity as everyone in her immediate proximity held their breath, expecting the impending wrath of Raven. It did not come however. The dark titan gave a simple "hmmph!" and glared down at the shorter teen who nervously tapped his fingers together as his comrade's eyes grew a brilliant white sheen.

"Uhh...maybe we should all just get home?" Robin inquired, a single gloved hand coming to rub the back of his neck as his glance shifted between Beast Boy and the very annoyed Raven.

"Thought you'd never ask." Raven grumbled, her irritated gaze still focused on their green teammate despite the feeling that deep down, something whispered to her that she was glad he had broken the tension her unfortunate predicament had caused.

* * *

 _It would feel wrong to take credit here._

 _This is an idea I got from a piece of artwork I saw on deviantart and couldn't help myself but to write it up._

 _Disclaimer: Still don't own Teen Titans, though I very much wish I did..._


End file.
